Sidebar – A Glossary Of Parantese

Your baby will learn to enunciate English even more quickly if you address her in a high-pitched, sing-song tone, using the specialized dialect known as “parentese.” Some key words and phrases to memorize:

• Beddy-bye: Time to retire.
• Blankie: A blanket.
• Blankie statement: Sweeping generalization. Usage: “Kendra, we don’t make blankie statements when discussing race or gender.”
• Boo-boo: A minor wound.
• B-b-b-b-boo: A minor speech impediment.
• Dada: Male caregiver.
• Dadaism: The male caregiver’s tendency to make absurdist art when he should be bathing Baby.
• Din-din: A meal taken in a cacophonous restaurant.
• Jammies: Size 1 pajamas that have become mysteriously clogged in the upstairs toilet.
• Kitty: A small cat.
• Mansiony: A small home.
• Owie: Term used to express sympathy (from the French, Ah, oui!)
• Pee-pee: A legume.
• Tee-tee: A golf neccessity.
• Uppie: The desire to be lifted by a parent or a pharmaceutical.
• Wa-Wa: Global conflict. As in “Wa-Wa I” or “Wa-Wa II.”
• Wittle: Small.
• Wittler: Smaller, often handcarved.
• Wuv: Ardent emotion.
• Wuv Hangover: The painful consequences of too much wuv.